Wednesday, May 03, 2006

What happens in Istanbul stays in Istanbul

A wonderful dinner at the comfortable and appropriately named "Sofa Pub" sofa is hall in Turkish, we got home, went to bed and got up for a prompt start for Topkapi Palace at 9 this morning. The sky was partly blue, windy and a little chilly but better than yesterday. Topkapi is quite near the hotel and a nice walk! We met at noon for a high class lunch at the restaurant on the Topkapi grounds. It was warm, room for 8 at a table and a magnificent view over the Bosphorus towards the Asian shore of Istanbul. Lots of ship traffic, including oil tankers chugging mightly north against the strong current coming south from the Black Sea.

After lunch we found spots for sketching and painting. Painting in public is such a magnet, we got many smiles and some kids came up to see what was going on. At one point Jane was surrounded by about 15 Turkish kids who wanted to see her paintings. They also got quite brave and sang the ABC song! After becoming completely chilled we all headed for Cigdem our cappucino and pastry shop. On the way some commerce occurred = see the title = which inspired envy in others in our group and benefitted more merchants.

Anyway, we eventually got back to the Apricot, some of us had dinner at the Sofa and now we have to pack for our trip to the airport and quick flight to Izmir.

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